Hillsboro Hops: New ballpark has traditional feel, modern amenities

Final touches are put on at the new Hillsboro Hops baseball park, part of the Gordon Faber Recreation Complex.

As a young child in a hot Nebraska summer of 1959, Mike McMurray fell in love with baseball through the simple pleasures of eating peanuts and listening to stories.

Now 63, he's the owner and president of the Hillsboro Hops, and his mind can easily transport him to those carefree nights spent on the wooden bleachers of Sherman Field in Lincoln, Neb.

He remembers looking in wonder at Lincoln's minor-league baseball team while listening in awe to stories from his father, Duke, and grandfather, Tom Dowling.

"Back then, all I needed were some peanuts at the ballpark and that was it," McMurray said. "I was happy as can be. But it's changed so much from when I was a kid."

When Hillsboro Ballpark opens its doors for the first time Monday, McMurray can't wait to look around at the families in attendance and wonder about the potential lifetime memories being made in the bleachers.

The 3,534-seat stadium (with a capacity of 4,500) was built with the fan experience at the forefront. An important part of that mission was finding a way to continue the tradition of family-friendly minor league baseball while having a long-term vision.

"We really want this place to be a total entertainment experience that's relevant to today," McMurray said. "It will still have the same family values as when my dad took me to the ballpark, but in the context of the modern family.

"We want this to be a place where there will be 38 block parties this summer."

Hops general manager K.L. Wombacher believes the construction team "hit a home run" in creating that block-party feel. The concourses are wide and there are no walls between the field and the concession stands, allowing fans a nonstop view of the game.

The $15.2 million ballpark's signature feature is the "Frontier Family Berm," an open grass seating area beyond the outfield fence (located 325 feet from home plate in left and right field and 400 feet in center). This is where fans can lie on the grass, sit on blankets and mosey around as they please.

"We'll be one of the only teams in the country with a large grass berm," Wombacher said. "It should be a great area for young families with young kids. I have a 2 1/2-year old, and she's not going to sit in the seat for nine innings, but she'll run around on the grass berm and the parents can stand back there and watch the game. It's a great family feature."

There also will be plenty of standing-room-only areas, a 21-and-over "Bridgeport Brew Pen" down the right-field line and a picnic pavilion down the left-field line.

Hillsboro Ballpark will also appease those fans who come solely for the baseball. The lone seating bowl, with 14-row sections, will create an intimate feel for spectators. That's a far cry from the Triple-A Portland Beavers' former 15,000-seat ballpark that has been renovated into a professional soccer stadium.

"To be honest with you, PGE Park was a lousy baseball stadium because it was way too big," said Keenan Longcor, founder of "Friends of Baseball," a Portland-based nonprofit organization. "The beauty of the Hillsboro stadium is that you're right near the field, right in the dugout practically. You get to know the players better and they get to know you better.

"And those are first- and second-year players down there so it creates a purity that you might not find as much in Triple-A."

The Hops, a short-season Single-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, are hopeful that the quality of Hillsboro Ballpark will help get more high-quality minor league players.

Batting cages have been built underneath the bleachers for players to use, the spacious clubhouse has a professional feel and the all-turf field will provide a controlled playing surface for young players to develop.

A year ago, when the Hops were the Yakima Bears, they played in the 3,000-seat Yakima County Stadium that was built in 1993 on the Central Washington State Fairgrounds.

"Our manager we've had the last couple years, when he walks in to this facility, he's not even going to recognize that this is the same franchise anymore," McMurray said of Audo Vicente, who is in his ninth season managing in the Diamondbacks system. "There's a much different feel here."

McMurray, whose wife, Laura, is the franchise's chief financial officer, has high hopes of many future Diamondbacks starting their careers as Hops. It reminds him of his favorite player growing up, Hall of Fame second baseman Nellie Fox, playing early in his career for the minor-league Lincoln Athletics in Nebraska.

But regardless of the players on the field, McMurray and Wombacher are committed to making Hillsboro Ballpark one of minor league baseball's top fan environments.

"For the money, I think this will be the best Single-A park in the country," Wombacher said. "What they're able to do for the money, it's going to feel like a 20- or 30-million dollar stadium. I'm extremely happy with how this design came together.